Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Church Universal
By Samuel Longfellow (18191892)[Born in Portland, Me., 1819. Died there, 1892. Hymns of the Spirit. 1864.]
O
Through every age and race,
Unwasted by the lapse of years,
Unchanged by changing place.
Beneath the pine or palm,
One Unseen Presence she adores,
With silence or with psalm.
To serve the world raised up;
The pure in heart her baptized ones,—
Love, her communion-cup.
The soul her sacred page;
And feet on mercy’s errands swift
Do make her pilgrimage.
Fulfil thy task sublime;
With bread of life earth’s hunger feed;
Redeem the evil time!